Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor - one 2 one mini session for 3 minutes in a hotel in Ljubljana before her concert in Križanke. She is very quiet, but altough she suffered a lot in her career still sings beautifull and i loved the concert.

Kid Rock - or how we drove for 8 hours in a snow storm

Kid Rock played in Schladming, Austria. After leaving Slovenia, loaded with weather forecast, saying we're to expect a nice sunny day everything seemed to be working just fine. Soon after crossing first tunnels in Austria, no more sunny day but true winter conditions with quite heavy snow falling from time to time. Here we go :)

I was going for an assignment to shoot Kid Rock during press conference and concert, marking the opening of ski season in Schladming. This is an event worth seeing as there is less and less special pr stuff being done with major artists in the area. It is also a good opportunity to get closer to the artists and of course shoot some daytime images, not only typical concert coverage. This one was actually nice as it was held in the middle of the ski hill, outside, and Kid Rock drove himself to the place with the snow "ratrack" (what's the english word for that?). He came out with a cigar, changed clothes and actually talked a lot. We had 15 minutes for some images, not beeing able to move much, so most of the stuff is done from one position but catching different moments, like smoke exhaustion his cigar playing, nice explanations and some posing. Pretty cool. Well, it was off to the warm sorroundings of the bar next to the stage and lots of time before the concert. That was normal, even snowing stopped during our 3 song time and 30 photographers around me. This was a record number this year on a concert like this.

Well the adventure didn't finish after that, but actually started as on the way back (around 240 km for us) . We got stuck before tunnels due to major truck accident in one of the tunnels and it was snowing quite nicely. After 2 hours of waiting, wishing, hoping, we managed to get outof the jam and tried searching for an alternative route. GPS helped and took us around the mountains and into more snow storms. We came back, and what it took less than 3 hours to get there, took more than 8 to get back home. Pretty cool, a ? :) Anyway, here are some images of Kid Rock.

Original Kid Rock

Kid Rock during makeover

Kid Rock as Schladminger

Kid Rock as Schladminger, but still smoking

Kid Rock as Kid Rock

.. his microphone flies ...

.. he actually flies too ...

Vesna Zornik - Katalena

Katalena played in Cvetličarna. This was simply a wonderfull night and great concert. I have seen them many, many times, but the band keeps suprising me every time i see them. Altough my camera kept sending me the err99 every 5 shots (the only things that helps is to quickly open the battery tray and reset) i managed to get a few "working portraits" of Vesna Zornik, the main vocal and smiling face of Katalena.

The Queen

I am still here, just busy. Last week has been quite crazy with following the Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Slovenia. As always, protocol was tight and not much access was given to those outside assigned pools, except during her Ljubljana walk between the crowds. I was lucky to get a few pools, and was able to capture some nice shots all over. Watching the Queen just few feet away during state dinner at Brdo was also interesting and altough 60 guests came to greet her i managed to take few moments just to observe. They ended quickly as i was there to work not observe. Well an interesting experience and if compared to GW Bush visit earlier this year, so much more relaxed as there were no military in the fields around airport, no snipers on top of buildings etc. I will also remember this visit as i had bday on 22nd and it is not often that the Queen of England is in front of you on "your " day :) Now back to normal life :)

An evening with Rade Šerbedžija

Hot sunday, temps over 30C and i had an open festival assignment in the middle of Ljubljana. However, the real energy for that day came from the fact that Rade Serbedzija had planned a concert in Križanke. 10.000 people in one place, loud music, a bit over 1000 in Križanke and very quiet and intimate feeling just few hundred meters away. I didn't have the time to stay for the full concert, but Rade was kind enough to do a mini session before the concert, of course with his trademark, the hat. There were two TV crews eagerly awaiting for the interview so i had hurry up, but i am quite happy with the result. I played a bit with the image, made it B&W and i like it. Also, few shots form the concert.

Rade Šerbedžija, Križanke, Ljubljana, 22.6.2008

The voice of Rock - Glenn Hughes

Glenn Hughes, a former bass player of Deep Purple, and a man with a voice that you only listen and watch, visited Cvetličarna again. I was hoping for some new sound check pictures, but wasn't allowed to do it this time by his manager. Too bad, but i could get some backstage stuff which is also nice. Here is some action as i captured it of the man on stage, as you can see it was really an energetic performance.

Katie Melua

So, Katie Melua finally did a concert in Ljubljana, which was great and i enjoyed it big time... However, few weeks ago i promissed to show up some more photos of her while she was in Ljubljana for the 3 day promotion trip. I read somewhere that she gave out 29 interviews and she still had the energy and will when i asked her about a mini shoot at Ljubljana Old Castle above the city. The weather wasn't really cooperative at all, so at the end we did a few shots outside and a few just below the top of the tower with her looking outside. Nobody would want her to catch a cold before the tour start....

Katie at Radio Hit

... still Radio Hit, playing Nine Million Bycycles

Sound check during Hri-bar show on national television

Interview for Antena magazine...

... a quick snapshot before goin on top of the castle tower...

... looking at Ljubljana city below ...

... the city of Ljubljana behind Katie dressed up warm before photographing - see the wind in her hair?

On stage with Chris Jagger

After few local bands, my sound check project is finally getting some international names. This time i was able to get on stage with Chris Jagger, a brother of more famous Mick Jagger from The Rolling Stones. Chris was in Ljubljana on Cvetličarna stage with his band Atcha and did another show in Portorož a day later (unfortunately i was not able to be there, but i heard it was amazing, just as was the one i saw).

I was quite limited, although Chris allowed me to shoot during sound check i quickly noticed it would not be good to stay too close to him on stage, as he moved and turned away everytime i pointed my lens to him, so i quietly worked from side and in front of stage and it turned to be ok. He also had some personal issues with his son, as i learned later, and i didn't want to get him too upset with my photographing. The evening turned out great as Chris and his band came to Roxly (a new rock club in Ljubljana, where you can see some of my photograps) and enjoyed some time relaxing after the gig.

Katie Melua - a vist to Ljubljana

Last weekend was simply amazing. Ok, lots of work, Viktorji event, but the cream was the fact that Katie Melua visited Ljubljana, for 3 days. It was not a private visit, but a promotional one, for a new record and a concert on 27th April. And so she went and gave more than 20 interviews, did TV appearences and radio shows. I was lucky enough to be able to follow and photograph her at several locations and even did a little "photoshoot" with her on Sunday at Ljubljana castle. She's very quiet, just like her music, altough she said several times she's an adrenaline addict, and listening to her greatest hit Nine Million Bycycles, just one meter from here was really cool. Anyway, i managed to get some new shots for my sound check project. It is not everyday that a musician who sold 7,5 million albums allows you to photograph at sound check and performances with no limitations. She did. Thanks Katie :) Here are two shots, one taken at Radio Hit quick sound check before going live and the other, which looks more like a concert shot, was taken at national TV during Hri-bar show sound check.

An evening with The Queen - Esma Redzepova

After not being able to take pictures of her last concert, finally, Esma Redžepova, The Queen of Roma Music, was back in Ljubljana. This time she visited Cvetličarna and was in a very good mood. I took a few seconds off before the TV crews were in the room to get some of her smiles captured. I didn't know much about her besides knowing who she is, but i was impressed to learn later she had been nominated for nobel peace prize twice for her humanitarian work, learned the fact she played more than 15000 concerts in her career and that she adopted 47 boys with her late housband. Amazing lady, so full of energy. Here are some moments before and during the show. Enjoy!

Mohawk Punker Haircut

I am sure this bass players head has to be the most photographed item of Zablujena Generacija, a Slovenian Punk band from Idrija. His Mohawk, punk hairstyle is great for pictures and here's a selection of same head in 3 different lights shining up the artwork :) A great detail to catch and play with, when the light from the back is so strong that other stuff is hard to do. All of these were taken at the Šank Rock 25th anniversary in Velenje.

Bajaga again in Ljubljana

Another cool concert in Cvetličarna. This time Momčilo Bajagić - Bajaga came to this club and it was full quickly after doors opened. Very cool. I managed to get a few shots of Bajaga in the backstage area before the show and as you can see he was in a very good mood :)